2 Germanys End Summit

Accords Help To Ease East-west Tension

September 09, 1987|By Uli Schmetzer, Chicago Tribune.

BONN — East German leader Erich Honecker and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, whose nations have been divided since World War II, took three small steps Tuesday toward a more relaxed relationship and the distant dream of reunification.

In a joint statement issued during the final hours of a two-day summit, the two leaders proclaimed mutual respect for each country`s political character and alliances-partnership in NATO for West Germany and Warsaw Pact membership for East Germany. But it stressed relations ``between the two states must remain a stabilizing factor for constructive East-West

relations.``

And perhaps to placate fears of yet another powerful, unified Germany, the statement pledged: ``War must never again be started from German soil. Peace must emanate from German soil.``

``We have opened new possibilities for greater togetherness among our German countrymen,`` Kohl said after 12 hours of talks with the first German Democratic Republic leader to visit West Germany.

Though the main agreements were relatively insignficant, the East Germans separately promised to ease their rigid restrictions on printed material and videocasettes from the West and agreed to further faciliate both exit and entry visas, an issue currently closest to the hearts of Germans on both sides of the border.

The nagging issues of the Berlin Wall and a more open border remained unresolved. Still, the two countries did agree in three documents to work together for the protection of the environment, to protect against radiation and to cooperate in science and technology.

``The talks have not changed anything, except the will to work together whenever collaboration is possible,`` said Wolfgang Schauble, minister for the chancellery.

While the two delegations worked out the final text of the statement, Honecker, 75, slipped away to visit his former communist colleague, Herbert Wehner, 81.

The two worked together as lobbyists in 1935 in Honecker`s home state, the Saarland. Prior to a plebiscite, they tried unsuccessfully to persuade the people of the region to vote against joining Hitler`s Reich and remain an international protectorate instead.

After the war, Wehner became a Social Democratic Party parliamentary leader, and he helped to convince Willy Brandt to embark on his famous

``Ostpolitik,`` West Germany`s opening to the Soviet bloc.

Honecker ended his official visit Tuesday. For the next three days he is to meet with West German businessmen.

Though no major barriers came down with the Honecker visit, spokesmen for both countries Tuesday agreed that progress was made in stimulating an inter- German trade that last year alone amounted to $8.4 billion.

For the last 30 years the two Germanys have traded everything from potatoes to political prisoners. The East Germans mainly sell petroleum products and chemicals, processed from Soviet crude oil. West Germany sells chemicals, metals and consumer goods.

The special commercial ties have allowed East German products to reach the European Community market duty free, for an estimated annual savings of $1.5 billion in duty fees.